Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Books

Explore the night with these books

My kids loved going outside at night. We’d watch meteors, listen to insects, and go on moon-lit walks to look for nightlife. Here’s a couple of new releases to inspire the night scientists in your house.

Night Sky (NGK Readers series), by Laura March

32 pages; ages 5-8. National Geographic Children’s Books, 2017

When the sun goes down, dots of light fill the night sky. Some of them move. Others are still. Some twinkle. Others don’t. Have you ever wondered what they are?

Short chapters focus on the moon, stars, planets, and “flying objects” – meteors and comets. Simple text is accompanied by gorgeous photos of earth, sky, and other heavenly objects.

In addition to the text, a reader can gain information from photo captions, text boxes, and side bars. I like the “Sky Word” boxes; each explains one term. And I like the occasional jokes along the tops of the pages: Why did the moon stop eating? There’s a wonderful graphic showing how an eclipse works, tips for stargazing, and “7 Cool Facts About Space!” A quiz at the end, photo glossary, and table of contents add value for curious kids.

Night Creepers, by Linda Stanek; illus by Shennen Bersani

32 pages; ages 3-8. Arbordale, 2017

Waking up. Most of us will read that and think, “morning”. But no, these are red foxes and they’re just shaking off sleep for a night busy with adventures.

Each spread in this book introduces young readers to a nocturnal or crepuscular (active dawn and dusk) creature. We meet wolves, bats, flying squirrels. raccoons, owls, frogs, and fireflies. The left side of each spread features large text with animal actions: gliding, washing, preening. A column down the right side gives more detail about the animal’s behavior, what they eat, how they hunt, and where they live. Back matter includes four pages of activities for creative minds.